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Iowa City is proud of its good water |
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When Iowa City officials decided to switch from poor-tasting river water to wells––including some alluvial wells that use surface water and water from near the surface––they knew wellhead protection would be critical. Since anything on the ground surface would infiltrate into groundwater and impact drinking water in alluvial wells, they needed a comprehensive protection plan. They worked with the Johnson County Soil and Water Conservation District in the mid-1990s to develop that plan. In 2003, when the new water plant was built, the city followed through with more than 200 acres of prairie plantings, multiple wetlands, and a pond on-site. The pond and wetlands store and cleanse runoff water, while prairie grassses help soils absorb rainfall rather than run off the land, carrying pollutants. Included in the 230-acre upper site and 90-acre lower site is a designed swale that absorbs water from the building’s parking lot. The 3 miles of walking trails on the site, called Waterworks Prairie Park, are connected to other city parks and bring hundreds of visitors to the site daily. Several hundred of them now serve as water quality volunteers. Urban planners for the Natural Resources Conservation Service brought the agricultural watershed planning approach to the city in the waterworks project. Now urban planners with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, they are assisting the city with stormwater runoff and flood reduction planning throughout the city. |
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One in a series of summaries of watershed projects in Iowa carried out by local conservation districts, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Division of Soil Conservation, and other partners. |
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